oh yeah!

I haven't forgotten about you, promise.

Here's what's happening around here this past month (MONTH!) since i've posted.
1) christmas. Travel to Nashville, went to hot yoga (almost) every day, drank lots of wine, gave and got lots of presents, played with boom-whackers, kathryn stayed 2 extra days, and fun was had by all.
2) new year. We ... watched the ball drop from my parents house... again. (we're so exciting)
3) New semester started - and i didn't even notice.
4) A stomach bug ran rampant among my friends and family (although jason and dave seem to be immune...)
5) evey moved up to the older kids class

So, evey moved up. She's a big kid! she walks, practically runs, and says a new word every day. This weekend the new word was "mine!" hahaha. Here's the thing. I really can't stand her new class. AT ALL. and i am paying WAY too much to have her someplace where i don't love nearly everything about it. Here are my issues with the class - with more to be listed as they happen:

1) teachers seem to hate life.
2) teachers are sitting on inappropriate furniture every time i see them (on top of toy shelves, on the manipulatives table - so that the kids have to play with the puzzles on the floor)
3) teachers don't talk to parents. One day jason picked up evey, and she had clearly just fallen down - dirt all over her face and scrapes on her hands, and tear tracks through the dirt. The teacher didn't even LOOK at him.
4) teachers dont' hold the kids. No i'm not kidding.
5) teachers DO say to screaming kids "oh you're fine, i promise." in a flat monitone voice.
6) there's no free art - no place that kids can go and color whenever they want. They get called in in groups of 4 or so to do a "project" that they get 5 minutes to do and then they go back to the free-for-all room
7) the room has not enough divisions so kids are often running around.
8) there's a gate, a baby gate, going into the hallway. The kids often stand at that gate, often they stand at that gate and scream (to which teachers either ignore, or say "you'll be fine, i promise) and many of them can open that gate. So sometimes the kids escape into the hallway. Granted, there are just 2 other classrooms they could go into - the front door is locked locked, but still.
9) teachers don't talk to the kids. I have seen a teacher talk with a child probably 5 times. They get talked at a bit when we first walk in the door "Oh, evelyn, glad to see you today." (if that, and often we don't get that), but for things like "do you like trucks?" or "what are you doing there?" - none.

basically, if i were observing them with the observational teacher measure that i worked on while getting my masters degree, the classroom would score pitifully low. Which really upsets me, mostly because the baby room was so incredibly accomodating, warm, and loving! Anyway, I know better than to put her in a place like this. So, you might ask, why are you keeping her there?

because 1) i dont have time to look for other places 2) i'm on waiting lists for the 4 other decent schools in the area (third on the list at one of them) 3) when i think about it too much i cry.

so i'll just hate myself every single day when i drop her off, and debate whether i should just scream at all the teachers to get a grip, or to yell at the director for allowing the school to be like this, or politely offer to share my preschool classroom quality knowledge (I got my masters degree in it! I'd say, "i'd be happy to provide you with some information about enhancing the language and literacy environments of all 4 of your classrooms) - hoping that it won't make the teachers hate me and be mean to my daughter.

but evey doesn't hate it, so i guess it isn't that bad. She still seems happy when i pick her up. so there's that.

at least that's what i tell myself.